First Trust Launches First Trust Bloomberg Inflation Sensitive Equity ETF

Rhea-AI Summary

First Trust Advisors has launched the First Trust Bloomberg Inflation Sensitive Equity ETF (NYSE Arca: FTIF), targeting U.S. companies poised to benefit during inflationary periods. The fund aims to track the Bloomberg Inflation Sensitive Equity Index and focuses on sectors like energy, materials, and real estate, known for generating high free cash flow. The ETF highlights the ongoing concerns about inflation among investors in 2023. With approximately $196 billion in assets under management, First Trust emphasizes the importance of quality stocks in navigating inflationary challenges.

Positive

• Launch of FTIF ETF aimed at inflation-sensitive sectors.
• Targets companies with high free cash flow from energy, materials, and real estate.
• Strategically responds to investor concerns about inflation in 2023.

Negative

• None.

An ETF that invests in U.S. companies that may benefit during periods of rising inflation.

WHEATON, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- First Trust Advisors L.P. (“First Trust”), a leading exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) provider and asset manager, announced today that it has launched a new ETF, the First Trust Bloomberg Inflation Sensitive Equity ETF (NYSE Arca: FTIF) (the “fund”). The fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the fund’s fees and expenses) of an equity index called the Bloomberg Inflation Sensitive Equity Index (the “index”).

When inflation rises, the purchasing power of money erodes, and it becomes important to seek strategies to generate additional income. Concerns over high inflation have led investors on a search for ways to seek durable return streams that have the potential to keep pace with inflation. FTIF aims to navigate the challenging effects of inflation by investing in companies in the energy, materials, and real estate sectors that generate high free cash flow and have shown historically strong performance during inflationary cycles.

“We believe that high inflation is one of the most important challenges that investors are facing in 2023,” said Ryan Issakainen, CFA, Senior Vice President and ETF Strategist at First Trust. “High quality stocks from sectors that have historically benefitted from rising prices may help investors navigate this environment,” Issakainen said.

“Bloomberg is excited to work with First Trust on an index for an ETF which utilizes a factor approach to target companies which may be better positioned to weather the challenge of persistent inflationary pressures,” said Dave Gedeon, Head of Index Product, Bloomberg Index Services Limited. “Bloomberg's Product Development is focused on building indices seeking to solve modern day investment problems and we are proud to support First Trust in tackling inflation with an equity solution.”

For more information about First Trust, please contact Ryan Issakainen at (630) 765-8689 or RIssakainen@FTAdvisors.com.

About First Trust

First Trust is a federally registered investment advisor and serves as the fund’s investment advisor. First Trust and its affiliate First Trust Portfolios L.P. (“FTP”), a FINRA registered broker-dealer, are privately held companies that provide a variety of investment services. First Trust has collective assets under management or supervision of approximately $196 billion as of February 28, 2023 through unit investment trusts, exchange-traded funds, closed-end funds, mutual funds and separate managed accounts. First Trust is the supervisor of the First Trust unit investment trusts, while FTP is the sponsor. FTP is also a distributor of mutual fund shares and exchange-traded fund creation units. First Trust and FTP are based in Wheaton, Illinois. For more information, visit https://www.ftportfolios.com.

You should consider the fund’s investment objectives, risks, and charges and expenses carefully before investing. Contact First Trust Portfolios L.P. at 1-800-621-1675 or visit www.ftportfolios.com to obtain a prospectus or summary prospectus which contains this and other information about the fund. The prospectus or summary prospectus should be read carefully before investing.

Risk Considerations

You could lose money by investing in a fund. An investment in a fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed. There can be no assurance that a fund’s objective(s) will be achieved. Investors buying or selling shares on the secondary market may incur customary brokerage commissions. Please refer to each fund’s prospectus and SAI for additional details on a fund’s risks. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.

Unlike mutual funds, shares of the fund may only be redeemed directly from a fund by authorized participants in very large creation/redemption units. If a fund’s authorized participants are unable to proceed with creation/redemption orders and no other authorized participant is able to step forward to create or redeem, fund shares may trade at a premium or discount to a fund’s net asset value and possibly face delisting and the bid/ask spread may widen.

A fund is susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. Such events could cause a fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss.

Energy companies are subject to certain risks, including volatile fluctuations in price and supply of energy fuels, international politics, terrorist attacks, reduced demand, the success of exploration projects, natural disasters, clean-up and litigation costs relating to oil spills and environmental damage, and tax and other regulatory policies of various governments. Oil production and refining companies are subject to extensive federal, state and local environmental laws and regulations regarding air emissions and the disposal of hazardous materials and may be subject to tariffs. In addition, oil prices are generally subject to extreme volatility.

Equity securities may decline significantly in price over short or extended periods of time, and such declines may occur in the equity market as a whole, or they may occur in only a particular country, company, industry or sector of the market.

An index fund will be concentrated in an industry or a group of industries to the extent that the index is so concentrated. A fund with significant exposure to a single asset class, or the securities of issuers within the same country, state, region, industry, or sector may have its value more affected by an adverse economic, business or political development than a broadly diversified fund.

There is no assurance that the index provider or its agents will compile or maintain the index accurately. Losses or costs associated with any index provider errors generally will be borne by a fund and its shareholders.

Industrials and producer durables companies are subject to certain risks, including the general state of the economy, intense competition, consolidation, domestic and international politics, excess capacity and consumer demand and spending trends. They may also be significantly affected by overall capital spending levels, economic cycles, technical obsolescence, delays in modernization, labor relations, and government regulations.

Large capitalization companies may grow at a slower rate than the overall market.

A fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for fund shares due to a limited number of market makers. Decisions by market makers or authorized participants to reduce their role or step away in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of a fund's portfolio securities and a fund's market price.

Market risk is the risk that a particular security, or shares of a fund in general may fall in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as general economic conditions, political events, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of a fund could decline in value or underperform other investments as a result. In addition, local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious disease or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have significant negative impact on a fund. In February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine which has caused and could continue to cause significant market disruptions and volatility within the markets in Russia, Europe, and the United States. The hostilities and sanctions resulting from those hostilities could have a significant impact on certain fund investments as well as fund performance. The COVID-19 global pandemic and the ensuing policies enacted by governments and central banks have caused and may continue to cause significant volatility and uncertainty in global financial markets. While the U.S. has resumed "reasonably" normal business activity, many countries continue to impose lockdown measures. Additionally, there is no guarantee that vaccines will be effective against emerging variants of the disease.

Materials and processing companies are subject to certain risks, including the general state of the economy, consolidation, domestic and international politics and excess capacity. Materials companies may also be significantly affected by volatility of commodity prices, import controls, worldwide competition, liability for environmental damage, depletion of resources and mandated expenditures for safety and pollution control devices.

Large inflows and outflows may impact a new fund’s market exposure for limited periods of time.

An index fund's return may not match the return of the index for a number of reasons including operating expenses, costs of buying and selling securities to reflect changes in the index, and the fact that a fund's portfolio holdings may not exactly replicate the index.

A fund classified as “non-diversified” may invest a relatively high percentage of its assets in a limited number of issuers. As a result, a fund may be more susceptible to a single adverse economic or regulatory occurrence affecting one or more of these issuers, experience increased volatility and be highly concentrated in certain issuers.

A fund and a fund's advisor may seek to reduce various operational risks through controls and procedures, but it is not possible to completely protect against such risks. The fund also relies on third parties for a range of services, including custody, and any delay or failure related to those services may affect the fund’s ability to meet its objective.

A fund that invests in securities included in or representative of an index will hold those securities regardless of investment merit and the fund generally will not take defensive positions in declining markets.

The market price of a fund's shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the fund's net asset value ("NAV") as well as the relative supply of and demand for shares on the exchange, and a fund's investment advisor cannot predict whether shares will trade below, at or above their NAV.

The risks associated with investing in real estate companies may be similar to those associated with direct ownership of real estate and include fluctuations in the value of underlying properties, defaults by borrowers or tenants, market saturation, changes in general and local economic conditions, decreases in market rates for rents, increases in competition, property taxes, capital expenditures or operating expenses, dependency upon management skills, limited diversification, and other economic, political or regulatory occurrences.

Securities of small- and mid-capitalization companies may experience greater price volatility and be less liquid than larger, more established companies.

Trading on an exchange may be halted due to market conditions or other reasons. There can be no assurance that a fund's requirements to maintain the exchange listing will continue to be met or be unchanged.

First Trust Advisors L.P. is the adviser to the fund. First Trust Advisors L.P. is an affiliate of First Trust Portfolios L.P., the fund’s distributor.

The information presented is not intended to constitute an investment recommendation for, or advice to, any specific person. By providing this information, First Trust is not undertaking to give advice in any fiduciary capacity within the meaning of ERISA, the Internal Revenue Code or any other regulatory framework. Financial professionals are responsible for evaluating investment risks independently and for exercising independent judgment in determining whether investments are appropriate for their clients.

“Bloomberg^®” and the indices licensed herein (the “Indices”) are service marks of Bloomberg Finance L.P. and its affiliates, including Bloomberg Index Services Limited (“BISL”), the administrator of the Indices (collectively, “Bloomberg”) and have been licensed for use for certain purposes by First Trust Advisors L.P. (the “Licensee”). Bloomberg is not affiliated with the Licensee, and Bloomberg does not approve, endorse, review, or recommend the financial products referenced herein (the “Financial Products”). Bloomberg does not guarantee the timeliness, accurateness, or completeness of any data or information relating to the Indices or the Financial Products.

Free Cash Flow is a measurement of how efficiently a company generates cash after paying for operations and capital expenses.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230314005727/en/

Ryan Issakainen

First Trust

(630) 765-8689

RIssakainen@FTAdvisors.com

Source: First Trust Advisors L.P.

FAQ

What is the First Trust Bloomberg Inflation Sensitive Equity ETF (FTIF)?

FTIF is an exchange-traded fund launched by First Trust Advisors that targets U.S. companies likely to benefit from rising inflation.

What sectors does the FTIF ETF focus on?

The FTIF ETF focuses on sectors such as energy, materials, and real estate, which typically perform well during inflationary periods.

When was the FTIF ETF launched?

The First Trust Bloomberg Inflation Sensitive Equity ETF (FTIF) was launched in March 2023.

What is the investment strategy of FTIF?

FTIF aims to achieve investment results that correspond to the Bloomberg Inflation Sensitive Equity Index, focusing on companies with historically strong performance during inflation.

How much assets does First Trust manage?

First Trust manages approximately $196 billion in assets as of February 28, 2023.